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Okay first things first. I have been to UP countless times and then yesterday was the first time I went to see us at the OS. The stadium itself is fantastic, I was sat in the upper east stand and I the pictures do not do it justice sight lines were quality and for 30 minutes of that game the atmosphere for just a standard game was better than anything at UP over the last 10 or so years IMHO it was absolutely superb and its starting to really piss me off at how negative some of fans have become (More social media then on here).
On to the game and the stands and its where it all started going wrong. Between the 30-35th minute sitting vs standing came in to fruition again and the stewards who were very and poorly timed kicked out about 15 people in the lower east stand now while the stewards were in the process of getting involved the fans decided to start chanting at the stewards and thole situation escalated which is why so many people got kicked out. Then what started as one stand booing the stewards turned to half a stadium booing the stewards for a good 2 or 3 minutes. Now I know some may not agree but for me this was the turning point in the game. As it looked like our players heads dropped for a couple mins then we were quickly stung with a deflected goal. After all you can't tell me that half a stadium booing isnt gonna affect the team they don't know what the fans are booing at all they know that there own fans are booing at 2-0.
After the first it was all downhill from there. After what a cracking start with some of the best football ive seen us play us and an incredible atmosphere to boot. It went downhill from that moment. Suddenlt we conceded and it was like a double whammy then for some unknown reason Collins decided to ignore Adrians shout and somehow didn't see him coming even though he was looking at him and decided instead of heading it out was gonna head it stupidly over adrian. 2-2 before half time the stadium went silent and the atmosphere went from incredible to hostile.
Second half we were plain and simply caught out on the counter and as we conceded a 3rd and 4th more and more fights broke out. Being honest why the stewarding has been poor. Unfortunately many of our fans are going to the game pissed up and looking to start fights and it needs to be sorted ASAP.
To finish off just some notes on a few individual players. Adrian is key to the way we play going forward and needs his best defence in front of him.
Collins, Reid, Byram and Kouyate were absolutely dreadful and apart from Byram the other 3 have been poor a few times. I don't know what has happened to Reid but since he came back against chelsea last season hes been awful. Alot of people will say Collins had the worst game but believe me apart from collins mistake Reid was absolutely dreadful. Lost count of the amount of times he lost his man and wasn't tracking his player, was constantly out of position and wasn't up for the physical battle at all. Byram was skinned over and over and Kouyate should be outright dropped for a few games because his passing like it always has been was dreadful he doesn't know how to win a tackle properly and his positional sense is awful and his workrate which used to be his best attribute is now non exsitent he was constantly strolling round the pitch and leaving noble (who unlike some i thought had a good game and our first coming from him winning the ball like he did so much all game) compltely overrun for the whole second half. I've long been of the opinion hes a center back playing defensive mid and its no wonder in my eyes that his best performances in a west ham shirt have been at center back. There were some positives and some negatives I do think we will get better but I do feel Bilic throwed in to many players who havent had enough game time together at once and didn't rectify the issue when Payet and Lanzini tired.
Sorry for the long post guys just needed to vent a bit! Hopefully you all read the whole thing!
dont be sorry
good post!
At least 1 person read it !
At least 1 person read it !
I've read it too
When things are going well the noise at the new stadium is amazing. But unfortunately so far this season we haven't had much to cheer about! I'm in row 14 of the East stand and very happy with my view.
Agree that Adrian seems off his game at the moment (whilst Randolph, every time I see him gets better). I like Byram, but he can't defend well (which is not good to say about a defender!) He backed off and off for the first and 4th goals on Saturday. In fact the whole defence backed off, but unlike (say) Hull or someone like that we are not defending with 2 banks of 4. Once they are past our creative midfield then they almost have a free run. I think Slav will have to insist that the 2 holding midfielders of the 4231 formation sit, and don't get carried away going forward. One thing about Saturday again was the lack of energy and pace. Are they still unfit? Why were we strolling around? This brings me onto subs.
I agree with Fred about this, it is the lateness of substitutions. When Big Sam was around you could set your watch to his first sub on 60 minutes. (He did the same for England last week). Slav seems to leave it and leave it. On Saturday, after 60 minutes Zaza was conked out, Antonio was knackered, and Payet and Lanzini had both had it. It was obvious. But Slav leaves it and then does 3 subs in the final 15 minutes when its too late to affect the game (and also unfair to the subs). Slav did exactly the same when we lost 1-0 to Astra and needed to win. The fresh legs of the subs came on far too late.
For the next few games, I would like to see Arbeloa and perhaps Nordveldt (giving him the benefit of the doubt). Don't mind Lanzini starting but pull him off early if his energy drops and let's see Fernandez. Would like to see some injection of pace around the pitch with the likes of Fernandez, Oxford, Fletcher, Obiang. Can they not be given more than 5 minutes to show what they can do?
Have to say that the first half, up to the 2nd goal, was breath-takingly good from West Ham. But we just died after that. Not panicking yet. Still confident we can turn it around but we need to adopt far more urgency and intensity into our game, that's for certain.
Good post
and I have to agree with Fred regarding the trouble in the first half effecting the game, my fist thoughts when it started was this will course concern to the players, how can you have announcements going on regarding the crowds wilts the game is in play and it not have an effect on the players.
Whether the booing caused our fall or not
this is a great "fly on the wall" account for those of us who can't be at the games. it's really unfortunate that the atmosphere changed like that. Maybe the most important thing is that the team didn't have that continuous backing of the fans that might have urged them on. A third goal would have killed it off. Still can't remember a reversal this bad since the match where we had a 5-0 lead against Burnley and almost managed to screw it up.
Stewards
Good post, I didnt make it to the game as I am currently away in Indonesia, but during the 1st game I was manhandled by a steward and asked to sit down within 5 seconds of arriving at my seat. I was going to sit down anyway. These are the sort of issues that are pissing off the fans.
Good post Fred, sounds a
Good post Fred, sounds a pretty accurate to me and I watched on line.
Always been convinced
Always been convinced kouyate is a centre back! For me a partnership of ogbonna and kouyate could be good enough for champs league. Kouyate should rarely be played in midfielder make noble, Oxford, nortveld or obiang any 2 from 4 as 2 defensive midfielders that would make us more solid as a whole. I might even risk Oxford as it gives him experience in a less pressurised role than centre half.
Good Post and to add
We are very happy with our seats and we prefer to sit down, as we are both candidates for Lord of the Rings extras, and everyone around us is happy to sit. On the way back from WBA yesterday I was talking with 2 guys opposite us and we are talking sensible football talk when all of a sudden some bloke decides to plonk himself down with us as could hear 'aggi' football discussion/debate, as termed by him. The guy obviously couldn't take his drink or gear and talked absolute shite. He questioned me why I wasn't loyal in going to more away games than I do, to which I said I have personal reasons that are more important in life. That should have been the end of that discussion but the twat insisted that I should tell him because he didn't understand? So I explained that I had a terminally ill daughter at home and it's not fair for me to bugger off every weekend and leaving all responsibility to my partner. Not sure if I should have bothered or just told him to go away but I decided to speak out and make him look the twat that he is! Before this incident whilst queuing for 30 mins for a beer at half time I couldn't help but notice how many fans we have that are coked up to eyeballs, in the toilets they were in groups waiting to use the cubicles which is very obvious. I told a few of our so called fans that banging on the window and calling the staff "c***s" will only mean them pulling down the shutters and you end up with nowt! The wait is ridiculous but abuse like that is pathetic, and I think it's to do with the booze and drugs as this is what fuels this type of behaviour. The fact that we now have probably double the number of STH's and the fact that they opened the floodgates to anyone and his dog with the 'invite 2 extra friends' will go on to cause problems for some time to come. Why didn't they look at fans that had been to games through their records of purchase history? Fans that couldn't afford to go previously all the time but had made the effort when possible? Away tickets are easily available to anyone, if you know where to look, so you will always have issues policing the numpty's that go. Maybe it's just me getting older and analyzing people more than I used to?
I know you can't mate but id
I know you can't mate but id stop serving alcohol full stop inside the ground. Way to many pissed up people in the stadium. Being perfectly honest I think we should just scrap every season ticket and start again. All season ticket holders from upton park given first priority in choosing there seat and instead of +2 it should be relatives only or a family ticket type thing. Like you can + another child or something instead. Then they need to look at previous purchase history of people buying tickets. Surely previous academy members and previous season ticket holders who gave up season tickets etc.. shouldve been looked at first. Although the irritating thing is its not the non WHU fans causing trouble most the time.
Fred the way to go about that
Fred the way to go about that is to make everyone have a card thats attached to them, season ticket holder/member or just purchasing a ticket and if they are well behaved allow them to drink. If they step out of line no more booze.